[extropy-chat] "Cults such as the extropians see technology as unstoppable escalator to future prosperity, but ...."

[randy]

>From theregister.com:

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What do we do now? Cults such as the extropians see technology as the
unstoppable escalator to future prosperity, but the rest of us are
discovering that their utopian faith has caused graver problems than
anyone expected. 

A recent report identifies Silicon Valley as the most vulnerable
region in what it describes as "the largest out-migration of
non-manufacturing jobs in the history of the US economy". 

Ashok Bardhan and Cynthia Kroll at the University of California
Berkeley compiled the report last autumn (PDF from here) and provided
a more detailed regional analysis for the San Francisco Chronicle this
week. 

They reach their findings by examining the relative fortunes of "at
risk" industries, and conclude that California is particularly at risk
because of greater-than-average employment in electronics
manufacturing and business support services. In a two-year period
between 2001 and 2003, a million jobs were lost in these sectors,
200,000 in California. Outsourcing isn't new, the researchers contend,
but white collar services jobs can be sent offshore far quicker than
blue collar manufacturing jobs. They offer no prediction on how many
of the at-risk jobs will be sent offshore. 

In a short space of time, the offshore trend has become a US election
issue which looks like it'shere to stay. But even politicians don't
grasp the extent of the disappointment. Weren't things always supposed
to get better? 
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more here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/7/36136.html


[comment]
If the jobs situation, maybe extropian "cultists" and other
globalization supports had better keep an eye out for ad hoc "necktie
parties"....



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Randy